From Darkness Comes Light
by VoodooNecromancer
Summary: -IN PROGRESS- Takes place at the end of the story, just as Erik kidnaps Christine during Don Juan Triumphant. An 18 year old chorus girl doesn't believe the Phantom is dead. So she ventures into the darkness of the catacombs of the Paris Opera House to find the Angel of Music. My summaries are crap. Sorry! Please R&R! Rated to be safe!


_**A/N: **__Well...here we are. I actually have a _Phantom _fic that isn't going to be a one-shot. The Angel of the Night decided to pay me a visit a couple of days ago and asked if I would tell this story. After a few chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk, I said I'd do it. And he's decided to stay a while so that I get this story right. Because let's face it, no one says no to Erik._

_I don't own anything from _Phantom of the Opera._ Adriana and any other original characters that pop up in this story are the only ones I'm taking credit for._

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**Chapter One - From Order Comes Chaos**

Panic swept over the Paris Opera House. 18 year old Ariana Ricci had just seen the lead soprano, Christine Daae, get kidnapped by a masked man right off of the stage in the middle of a performance. It had been _him_. The Phantom. He had written an opera, _Don Juan Triumphant_, and must have some how gotten onto the stage, disguised as the masked leading man Don Juan, so that he could take Christine away forever.

It had all happened so fast.

And now, chaos spread throughout the opera house. Members of the audience fled from their seats towards the exits. Ariana's fellow chorus girls were wide-eyed and crying, gathering around Meg Giry in hopes of finding safety with the veteran performer.

"Girls! Come with me!" Meg shouted over the commotion. "It's not safe here!" She turned on her heel and raced toward the backstage area. Ariana followed at the back of the group of girls and just before she turned down the hall toward the chapel of the opera house, she saw Meg's mother Madame Giry take the hand of the Viscount de Changy and pull him toward a door hidden behind a tapestry on a wall. Realizing she had fallen behind, Ariana raced to catch up with Meg and the rest of the group.

Inside the chapel, the chorus girls were all talking at once.

"It was him! The Phantom! He's the one who took Christine!"

"But where did he take her?!"

"He won't kill her, will he?"

"She's gone forever. Once the Phantom gets you, he never lets you go."

"GIRLS!" Meg's voice echoed in the small sanctuary. "We need to pray for Christine's safe return. A search party has gone down into the catacombs to look for her. With God's good grace, they will find her and return her safely." With that, Meg walked up to the small alter, lit a candle, dropped to her knees, and began praying silently. The other chorus girls went to their knees and copied Meg, praying to God for the safe return of Christine and the group that went after her. All except for Ariana. No one knew, but she was a practicing Pagan, so praying to a deity she didn't believe in seemed pointless to the young woman. Not wanting to draw unwanted attention to herself, however, Ariana went to her knees and and bowed her head. Instead of prayers, thoughts of Madame Giry, the Viscount, and the tapestry filled her mind. Why hadn't they gone with the other group to the catacombs? Where did that door behind the tapestry lead? Did Madame Giry know something no one else did? The thoughts swirled around in Ariana's mind until she decided she would go looking for answers.

The hours passed and still no word of the missing soprano or her captor. Madame Giry found the girls in the chapel, but didn't say anything as she led them all back to their dorms. Ariana saw Meg attempt to speak with her mother at the head of the group, but Madame Giry shot her a glance that said 'hold your tongue', so Meg fell silent.

Once Ariana reached the dorm she shared with two other girls who were already in the room, she closed the door and began getting out of her elaborate costume from the _Don Juan _performance.

"What do you think, Ariana?" Isabella, a 17 year old Italian singer asked her roommate.

"What do I think about what?" Ariana replied, pulling on a black long sleeve shirt and black leggings.

"About Christine's disappearance, of course!" Isabella responded, looking at the door to make sure Ariana had indeed closed it when she came in. "Do you think she'll come back?"

"If the Viscount has anything to say about it, yes." Ariana said, taking her dark red hair out of its French braid and brushing it out so that it would fall neatly halfway down her back.

"What makes you say that?" Bridgette, a 17 year old Parisian dancer inquired. Ariana dropped her voice even lower than it had previously been before she spoke again.

"Right before we went to the chapel with Meg, I saw the Viscount and Madame go over to the tapestry of the angel in the cemetery and go through a door that was hidden behind it." Bridgette and Isabella's eyes widened as Ariana spoke. "I...I think Madame took him straight to the Phantom."

"So...you think he'll save her"? Bridgette asked.

"I do. And if he doesn't kill the Phantom himself, he'll tell that mob right where he is." Ariana replied with certainty. The other two girls were amazed at the certainty in Ariana's voice.

Once her hair was thoroughly brushed out, Ariana splashed water onto her face from a basin in the corner and used a rag to wipe off her makeup, then climbed up into her bunk and grabbed a worn copy of Dante's _Divine Comedy_ from off of the small shelf she had set up on the wall when she had first moved into the dorm room the year before. The shelf held three books, Dante's _Divine Comedy, _Shakespeare's _Othello_, and a book of Edgar Allan Poe's poetry. The shelf also housed a small silver jewelry box that had originally belonged to her mother and a small jade statue of a horse her father had given her from a trip to the China Sea. The small collection was all that she had left of her family.

The girls hadn't been in their beds more than 20 minutes when a commotion was heard out in the hallway. Ariana looked up from her book, trying to hear what the voices outside were saying. When she couldn't decipher anything, she closed her book, set it on her pillow, and climbed down from her bunk.

"Ariana! What are you doing?" Isabella whispered loudly. "You know Madame told us to stay here until she said otherwise."

"There's something going on out there. I'm gonna go see what it is." Ariana whispered back, reaching for the doorknob.

"Ariana..."

"I'll be quick. I promise." Ariana stuck her head out the door and looked around. The voices were coming from the direction of the dressing rooms. Padding barefoot down the familiar hall, she snuck out and turned the corner to the dressing rooms. There stood most of the cast and crew of the Paris Opera House along with the search party that had gone after Christine and the Phantom. They were all standing around the Viscount and Christine in front of the door to Christine's dressing room.

"So, the Phantom. He's dead then?" a male voice asked.

"Oh yes, We dispatched of him as soon as we realized Miss Daae was safe with the Viscount," the apparent leader of the search party replied. "He won't be terrorizing this opera house ever again." The group applauded.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you please. Miss Daae has had a very traumatic evening. Allow me to escort her inside her dressing room and have everyone leave her be," the Viscount said. Without another word, he took Christine by the hand, opened her dressing room door, and disappeared inside with her. Before anyone could see she was about, Ariana quickly made her way back to the dorm hallway, only to find everyone standing in the hall.

"Christine is back." Ariana announced. "The Viscount is with her. The search party swears they killed the Phantom and that he won't be terrorizing us ever again." Relief swept over the faces of the chorus girls, none more so than the face of Meg Giry. Ariana returned to her dorm, climbed back up into her bunk, and pretended to fall asleep. Sleep, however, was the furthest thing from her mind. She was waiting until she was certain everyone was asleep. She didn't believe for one minute that the Phantom was dead. And once she was sure everyone was in for the night, she was going to go through that door behind the tapestry and find out for herself.

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_**Please read and review! Thanks!**_


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